


400 Lux

by buoyantsaturn



Series: Prompts [4]
Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan, The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: "bad boy" nico, Alternate Universe - High School, Based on a Tumblr Post, Headcanon prompt, M/M, Mute!Will, Sharing a Bed, but is it really platonic?? we'll see, idk which one to use so theres both, lee dies in the beginning but thats literally in the summary so u shouldve seen that, mentions of blood and death but nothing graphic, nonverbal!will, so much platonic cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-18
Updated: 2018-04-18
Packaged: 2019-04-24 18:03:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14360745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buoyantsaturn/pseuds/buoyantsaturn
Summary: leo-atthedisco asked: will doesn't speak due to watching his brother die, and nico's like a 'bad boy' who tries really hard to impress will highschool!mortal!au??it's this headcanon list but as a fic!





	400 Lux

**Author's Note:**

> title ofc is 400 lux by lorde as they all are  
> i changed the plot slightly from the headcanon list but it's still the same gist ok enjoy!!

Will was eight years old on the night that his brother Lee had picked him up from his piano lessons across town from where they lived. They were supposed to leave the middle school and head straight home, but Lee had decided to surprise his brother by taking the long way home and stopping for ice cream on the way.

They had to eat while they walked, because knowing their mother, Naomi was counting down the seconds until she expected her sons to be home, and if they ended up being more than five minutes late, they risked having the whole neighborhood watch searching for them.

The Dairy Queen they stopped at was running a little slow on their orders, so Lee had the two of them take a shortcut to make sure they got home on time. It was the same shortcut Lee took on his way home from school, but of course, things were different in the middle of the day than they were after dark.

Will could only remember flashes of what had happened. A man demanding their money, Will’s ice cream cone hitting the pavement alongside Lee’s, and a knife appearing from the darkness. The man vanished with Lee’s wallet and left his knife stuck under Lee’s ribs, and Will couldn’t even manage to scream for help. Lee had managed to pull his phone from his pocket and had Will dial 9-1-1 before he passed out, but Will wasn’t able to tell the operator what had happened.

By the time the police finally arrived, Lee was dead. Will hadn’t spoken a single word since.

 

* * *

 

By the first day of Will’s junior year, he’d figured out how to make the days as painless as possible. Sit in the back of the room, keep his head down, smile politely but make no other move to interact with his peers. A vague cutting motion near his throat and a shrug whenever someone asked why he wasn’t speaking.

Any teacher that had worked at his high school since he started his freshman year was aware of his disability, but he always wound up stuck in the class of someone new with no way to explain his situation.

He walked into his second period on the first day, moving straight to the back row, setting his backpack under the desk and sitting down silently - feet planted on the floor, hands folded on the desk, head angled down so as to avoid any accidental eye contact.

Someone claimed the seat beside him, drawing Will’s attention momentarily as he dropped into the seat with a huff, tossing his backpack on the floor and leaving it in the space between his desk and Will’s. Will tried to sneak a look at the other boy, afraid of being noticed as he watched the boy kick his high tops up onto the seat of the chair in front of him, lounging back in his chair as he tapped on his phone underneath the desk. Will was pretty sure he’d seen this kid around in the past couple of years, but he was certain that he’d never be able to forget such a pretty face.

Will’s attention was drawn away from the other boy when the teacher called for attention - Mrs. Dodds, someone new, who had an angry southern accent that was almost the exact opposite of Will’s mom’s sweet and soothing southern drawl. Mrs. Dodds starting reading off the attendance list, and Will felt his heartbeat pick up its pace. Would he be marked as a problem child as soon as he refused to answer, or would he just be marked absent? Even worse, what if he was sent to the principal’s office for refusing to speak? It wouldn’t be the first time.

The boy next to him said a bland, “Here,” in response to the teacher calling his name - Nico di Angelo, if Will heard right. _Of angels._ Yeah, he kind of looked like an angel, Will caught himself thinking.

Mrs. Dodds called his name, and Will rose a hand in acknowledgement, but the teacher didn’t look up. “William Solace,” she said again, voice harsher this time, and she glanced up, finally spotting Will’s hand. “You’ll have to speak up, William, or else you’ll have to sit in the front of the class.”

As Mrs. Dodds continued calling out names, Will slumped back in his seat dejectedly. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nico lean toward him, and Will braced himself.

“Why didn’t you just say you’re here?” he asked, pouting in confusion. _Cute,_ Will thought.

He made a cutting motion next to his neck and shrugged, hoping that Nico would understand.

“Oh, you’ve got laryngitis or something,” Nico whispered. “That sucks, sorry.”

Will shrugged again and turned back toward his desk. _Or something,_ yeah.

 

Nico had learned to sit in the back of class because he could never keep his mouth shut. He’d gotten more detentions than he could count for snarky remarks and correcting his teachers - _sorry,_ but he definitely knew more Italian than someone who’d only lived in Italy for a semester in college ten years ago, and don’t get him _started_ on his history classes - but as long as he sat as far from the teachers as possible, they couldn’t hear his comments.

That was how Nico found himself sitting next to Will in his second period, though he figured Will had chosen a seat in the back to avoid getting called on when he couldn’t talk. He certainly didn’t look like a back-of-the-class delinquent - to be fair, Nico wasn’t either, but he certainly dressed like he was - and Nico figured that as soon as Will got his voice back he would move up to the front row and ask a question every five minutes. Nico found himself thinking about how unfortunate that would be - the back of Will’s head couldn’t be anywhere near as nice to look at as his face was.

When Mrs. What’s-Her-Face started teaching (on the first day of class, _seriously?)_ Nico couldn’t help but groan softly, knocking his head back until it hit the wall behind him. He thought he heard a snicker and glanced over to Will who quickly looked back to the board, but didn’t hide the tiny smile on his lips.

He heard that same snicker a few times throughout the period, always following one of Nico’s dumb comments, and Nico felt a surge of pride at making this hot guy laugh. He was going to be even more upset to see Will move up to the front of the room - nobody had ever appreciated his snark as much as Will seemed to.

When the class ended, Nico packed up his stuff to and offered Will a two-fingered salute, and was just about to turn away when Will smiled and waved back. Nico hurried away and out the door into the hallway, hoping that Will didn’t see the sudden glowing pink of his cheeks.

His next three classes were just as boring as he’d expected for the first day of the year, sandwiched around his lunch period that he unfortunately did not share with any of his friends. He considered searching out Will, but thought that might be weird since they didn’t really know each other. He didn’t want to look desperate.

Nico ate his lunch quickly and all alone, arriving to his next class fifteen minutes early and leaving it the second the bell rang. He just had one last class to survive that day before he was free to go home and enjoy his solitude.

He walked into the classroom, immediately realizing that this class might not be as insufferable as he thought it was going to be when he saw Will sitting in the back row. Nico went over to him, taking a seat next to him, and he was greeted with another bright smile. Nico got a tingly feeling all over his body at the sight, but he knew he wouldn’t be able to run away to hide his blush this time.

“Hey,” Nico said. “Still no voice?”

Will’s smile disappeared, and he stared down at his desk as he shook his head.

Nico hadn’t realized that laryngitis could be such a sensitive topic. He was about to apologize when the teacher announced the start of class. Mr. Brunner started reading off the attendance list, and Nico said, “Here,” for the sixth time that day. He tuned out most of the names that Mr. Brunner called, until he heard, “William Solace,” and saw Will’s hand rise up next to him.

“Uh, he’s here,” Nico said, and Will smiled at him in thanks. Nico felt himself smiling back before he froze. _Oh no,_ he thought, _this is a crush._

He was much quieter during Mr. Brunner’s class than he was in Mrs. Dodds’s, afraid that he might blurt out something embarrassing to Will, and managed to keep his mouth shut until the final bell rang. He still waved goodbye to Will as he left, but didn’t wait to see an acknowledgement before he was rushing out of the room.

Nico found Jason at his locker. “What do you know about William Solace?”

“You mean Will?” Jason asked, closing his locker and turning to frown at Nico. “Blond. Junior. What do you want to know?”

Nico crossed his arms and looked away, hoping to prevent Jason from seeing his true intention in his eyes. “I dunno. I just met him today, he seems cool, I guess, but we didn’t talk much.”

Jason rolled his eyes. “No shit, dude doesn’t talk.”

“What do you mean?”

Jason started walking down the hall, and Nico moved with him. “I mean he doesn’t talk. Somebody told me he was in some kind of accident as a kid, I guess. He apparently hasn’t spoken since, but he insists on sticking with public school for some reason. Anyway, am I driving you home?”

 

Nico spent most of that night researching ASL, figuring that Will needed to communicate in some way, and sign language seemed the most realistic way that he would do so. He found a bunch of websites that talked about deaf culture, meaning that Nico found a lot more information than he’d been looking for - far more than the few basic signs for _hello_ or _goodbye_ or _homework_ he’d originally been searching for.

He’d ended up staying up until nearly three in the morning after finally crawling out of a clickhole, which meant that he was this close to falling asleep in his first class the next morning. He woke right up at the end of class, however, anxious to get to Mrs. Dodds’s class so he could talk to Will.

Will beat him to class, and was already staring blankly down at his desk when Nico sat down beside him.

“Hey,” Nico said, and Will smiled at him. “Um. I’m sorry for yesterday, for bringing up that you can’t talk. I, uh, I didn’t realize it was such a sensitive subject. So. Sorry.”

Will frowned down at his desk. Without looking at Nico, he raised a flat hand up to his lips, then held that hand out towards Nico. Had he not spent the whole night researching ASL, Nico might’ve thought that Will was blowing him a kiss - a very sad, uncomfortable kiss.

“Um, that was sign language, right?” Nico asked, and Will perked up a little bit. Nico stared down at his hands, picking off his black nail polish as he continued, “‘Thank you’? I looked up a few things after school yesterday, in case you did speak ASL, but all I really looked for were school-related things. Like, uh, homework and teacher and classroom. So I don’t know much, but hopefully enough that I can help you with your homework if you need it? And then you won’t have to deal with Mrs. Dodds.”

When he finally looked up, he saw Will beaming at him.

 

Will was buzzing for the rest of the day. Only his mom and Mr. Brunner had ever bothered to learn ASL for his sake, but now this cute boy was learning a few signs? Just for him? A cute boy wanted to talk with _him?_ It had never happened before, and Will wasn’t really sure how to feel - besides excited, because _hell yeah,_ he was _so excited._ He wanted to run home and grab the ASL books his mom had gotten for them to share, or invite Nico over after school to teach him. That was all too forward, though, right? People didn’t normally get this attached to a single person after knowing them for a day, right? It had been so long since Will had had a friend that didn’t care if he didn’t talk, so rational thought had practically gone out the window.

Will had made sure to get to Mr. Brunner’s class as quickly as possible before his last class of the day so he could share the news with the one person he could actually talk to.

“That’s wonderful, Will,” Mr. Brunner told him. “I’m glad you’ll have someone your own age to talk to. You should let them borrow the books you used when you first learned ASL.”

‘I was going to,’ Will signed. ‘But should I offer the books first or just bring them to school tomorrow?’

“Well, does your friend understand enough to know what you’re offering?” Mr. Brunner asked, and Will shrugged. “Perhaps it should be a surprise, then. Head to your seat, Will, class will be starting soon.”

Nico was already in his seat in the back row by the time Will took his seat. “Mr. Brunner knows ASL, too?” he asked, and Will nodded. “Cool, maybe he can help me learn some more.”

_I could teach you,_ Will thought. _I’d be happy to teach you._ But he didn’t respond.

 

* * *

 

Will brought the first level book the next day, but never ended up giving it to Nico. He wasn’t sure what held him back - embarrassment of some kind or the fear that Nico would think he was being too clingy and change his mind - but it was almost a week before he finally built up enough courage to hand the book over.

“An ASL book?” Nico said before Mrs. Dodds’s class started one morning. “Is this yours?”

Will nodded and signed, ‘You can borrow it if you want.’

Nico watched Will’s hands with a concentrated frown, but looked up in confusion once Will had finished. Will smiled at the adorable look on Nico’s face and held out his hand to take the book back, then flipped to the page with the word _borrow._

“You’re letting me borrow this?” Nico asked. “This is so great, thanks!” Will signed _you’re welcome,_ but Nico looked like he still had something he wanted to say, by the way he was biting his lip and jiggling his leg. “Can I, uh, have your phone number? So I can text you if I have any questions?”

Will nodded and pulled his phone out of his pocket, opening up a new contact and handing it over to Nico. He typed for a little while before giving the phone back to Will. “I sent myself a text, by the way.” Will nodded again as he looked down at the screen, smiling at what he saw. He had inputted his name simply as _Nico_ with a ghost emoji on either side. _He got a cute boy’s phone number!_

Will was smiling for the rest of the day.

He’d managed to hold off on saying anything else to Nico until the end of Mr. Brunner’s class that day, finally caving just before Nico walked out the door.

‘Do you want to come over sometime so I can teach you?’ he asked, his hands shaking so badly that he didn’t really expect Nico to understand.

“Teach me?” Nico asked. “That’s all I caught.”

‘My house. I’ll teach you,’ Will tried again, then fingerspelled, _A-S-L._

“Oh!” Nico said, eyes widening. “Yeah, I would love to! Um, but I can’t today. I’ll text you, though, okay?” Will nodded, and Nico smiled up at him. “Great, I’ll see you tomorrow!”

Jason was already in his car by the time Nico finally dropped into the passenger’s seat. “You’re late, now we’re gonna get caught in traffic.”

“Sorry, I was talking to Will,” Nico said, digging through his bag until he pulled out the ASL book, flipping it open to the page he’d left off on.

“What are you reading?” Jason asked, glancing over before focusing his eyes back on the road. “That’s not homework, is it? I’ve never seen you do homework before.”

“Will’s ASL book, he’s letting me borrow it,” Nico said. “He invited me over sometime. To teach me.”

Jason groaned. “Nico, please don’t confuse his kindness as him having a crush on you. I don’t think I could handle that again.”

“It was one time, and besides,” Nico started, “this is different.”

“How is this any different?” Jason asked, and out of the corner of his eye he could see Nico’s face growing red.

“I really, really like him,” Nico muttered. “That’s how.”

 

* * *

 

Nico went to Will’s house after school a few days later, and Will insisted that they finish their homework before they start practicing ASL. Nico caught him peeking over his shoulder a few times while they worked on their math assignment, and eventually Nico scooted closer to him on the couch until they could both see each other’s work clearly.

They stayed sitting closer than necessary when they finally moved on to ASL, and whenever the two of them turned to face each other, there were barely inches in between them - such a short distance that could be closed in a second, but neither of them ever made the move.

They developed a sort of schedule after that, one going over to the other’s house once or twice a week. They would do their homework and then practice ASL, sometimes watching a movie depending on how late it was, and Nico would usually stay over for dinner at Will’s house. Nico learned the concept of a name sign, and Will taught him his - a _W_ and the sign for _sunshine._ Nico asked Will to come up with a name sign for him, and Will told him he would think about it. As soon as Nico left that night, though, Will started talking to his mom and made a name sign for Nico without even thinking - an _N_ and the sign for _ghost._ (Naomi asked if Nico having a name sign meant that he and Nico were more than friends, but Will said he hadn’t thought about Nico like that.) (He had. All the time.)

Nico had started neglecting his other friends in favor of movie nights with Will. Piper tried inviting him to her house for a few parties, but before Nico could even turn her down, Jason had done it for him, telling her that Friday was Date Night and that Nico would probably choose Will over them. Nico had been indignant, even though Jason was mostly right, but now Nico had to convince Piper that he and Will were _not_ in fact dating (regardless of how much he wished they were).

One particular Saturday night, the two of them planned a movie marathon at Nico’s house that would most likely last late into the night, so they’d gone ahead and planned for a sleepover. The two of them stayed up until almost two in the morning watching movie after movie, only stopping after Will had laid his head in Nico’s lap and almost fell asleep right then and there. They were due to go to bed anyway, since Nico had been having a hard time making out Will’s signs in the dark for a couple hours at that point.

Nico had blown up an air mattress right next to his bed in his room, and Will had collapsed on it and fallen asleep before Nico had even gotten into his own bed. Unlike Will, he had a terrible time trying to fall asleep - how could he, when his crush was _right there?_ He could stretch his arm over the side of the bed and brush his fingers against Will’s arm. He rolled over to his other side, trying to push Will out of his mind so that he could sleep, but the thoughts wouldn’t go away. He remembered Will’s face close to his as he taught him signs, the gentle way he held Nico’s hands and corrected his movements. The way Will had so calmly laid down in Nico’s lap, comfortable enough to fall asleep even as Nico started to run his fingers through Will’s soft hair.

He heard shuffling, like Will was rolling over in his sleep, but the shuffling didn’t stop, and then gasping breaths joined it.

“Will?” Nico whispered, sitting up and leaning over the side of the bed.

He must’ve been having a nightmare, Nico thought, and was about to try to wake him up when Will bolted upright, sounding like he was wheezing or hissing - like he was trying to scream but the sound wouldn’t come out.

Nico launched himself out of bed, dropping into Will’s lap and framing Will’s face in his hands. “Will, shh, you’re okay,” Nico told him, resting his forehead against Will’s when he finally stopped struggling to scream. “You’re safe, you’re okay. Everything’s okay, I’m right here for you.” Will squeezed his eyes shut as tears started rolling down his cheeks.

Nico started to lift himself off Will’s lap, but Will wound his arms around his waist to keep him there. “I’m not going anywhere,” Nico promised. “Come with me, stand up.” This time when Nico tried to stand, Will let him, and followed him up onto his feet. “Lay down with me,” Nico whispered, climbing back into his bed, Will joining him without a second of hesitation.

Will wrapped his arms around Nico’s waist, hiding his face in Nico’s chest as he sobbed, and Nico pulled the blankets up around them. Nico started stroking his other hand through Will’s hair, only stopping when he heard something that sounded like whispering. “Will?” Nico asked softly. “Are you saying something?”

He strained to hear it, but it sounded as though Will was whispering, “I’m sorry,” into Nico’s t-shirt, over and over again.

“Shh,” Nico said again, returning to stroking Will’s hair. “Don’t be sorry. Go back to sleep, Sunshine, I’ve got you.” He pressed a kiss to the top of Will’s head. He would be surprised if he managed to get any sleep at all that night.

Nico waited until he felt Will relax in his arms, eventually falling asleep once again, and Nico finally allowed himself to close his eyes.

Nico woke up the next morning to the feeling of Will pulling himself out of Nico’s grasp. Nico rubbed at his eyes with one hand to wake himself up while his other hand reached out for Will, grabbing his t-shirt to keep him from getting too far away.

“Will?” Nico said softly. “Are you alright?”

Will pulled Nico’s hand off his shirt so that he could sit up, and nodded. Nico followed him up.

“Are you sure? Do you want to talk about it?” Nico offered. He saw Will’s eyes well up with tears before he shook his head no.

‘I’m sorry,’ Will signed.

“Don’t be sorry,” Nico told him. “You didn’t do anything.”

Will started signing rapidly, too quick for Nico to catch more than a word or phrase here or there - ‘You’re right,’ ‘I didn’t do anything,’ ‘I’m sorry’ at least three more times - and after a moment Nico reached out to stop his hands, holding them in his own.

“It’s okay, Will,” Nico told him, squeezing his hands. “You have nothing to be sorry for, there’s nothing to worry about. Okay?” Will hesitated before nodding, and Nico drew one of his hands up, pressing a kiss to Will’s palm. “How about we go downstairs? We can watch another movie, and I’ll make us breakfast.”

 

* * *

 

At school on Monday, Will surprised Nico by meeting him at his locker before first period. He waited for Nico to gather everything he needed for class and shut his locker before he reached down and took Nico’s hand in his, lacing their fingers as they started down the hall. Nico didn’t question it, afraid that if he did then Will would let go, and he certainly didn’t want that.

Will walked with him to his first class, squeezing his hand before letting go and waving goodbye so that he could head to his own class. Nico entered the classroom, immediately being cornered by Piper before he could sneak away to the back corner.

“What was that?” she asked, and Nico frowned.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She gestured toward the door with both hands. “You! And Will! He’s never walked you to class before! And you were _holding hands,_ what’s going on? I thought you said you weren’t dating!”

“We’re _not!”_ Nico insisted. At least...he was pretty sure they weren’t. They weren’t, right? He’d want to know if they were, and how long it had been going on, because while cuddling on the couch during a movie was great, Nico figured that making out and completely ignoring the movie would be even better. “He spent the night on Saturday and had a nightmare, and he’s been kinda shaken up by it since. He just wanted some comfort or something, I don’t know, but he wanted to hold my hand so I let him.” He could feel himself blushing and turned away from her, crossing his arms over his chest.

Piper narrowed her eyes at him. “Uh huh. Okay, sure.” She jerked her head toward the back of the room. “You’d better get back there before somebody steals your seat.”

Nico kept a close eye on Piper for the rest of class, though not once did her eyes stray from that day’s lesson, never once pulling out her phone to send a text announcing the latest update on Nico’s love life.

He was happy to see the end of class, because it meant that he got to see Will. They had a test in their math class, which meant that they didn’t get to talk or pass notes, but at the end of class, Will’s smile goodbye seemed a little more upbeat than it had when they’d parted ways before the start of Nico’s first class.

Will had history for his third period class, and while he was normally one of the only kids sitting in the back of the room, that day Piper had decided to join him. She slid a note onto his desk after class had started that said, _Are you and Nico dating?_

Will wasn’t sure how to answer. They certainly acted like they were, but neither of them had ever said anything to confirm it. He hesitated before writing his response: _I think so, but I don’t know how to ask him to make sure._ He folded up the note and looked toward the front of the room as he held the paper out toward Piper.

_Just ask him,_ Piper replied. If only it were that simple, Will thought, picking up the note and crumbling it in his hand. Just ask him - it wasn’t like Will had a voice to use to ask, “Hey, Nico, are we dating?” and if he tried to sign it, his hands would probably shake so bad that Nico wouldn’t be able to tell what he was saying, anyway.

Except that...he _did_ have a voice, didn’t he? Physically, there was nothing preventing him from speaking, just some kind of mental block. He’d never considered that he would ever speak again, always assumed that he would be forever silent, but...he didn’t need to be. He could learn to talk again, if he truly wanted to. Would his voice even work after going unused for almost ten years? He would have to wait and see.

He didn’t say anything about it to Nico or Mr. Brunner during sixth period. He didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up - especially not his own - until he knew for sure that this was something he would be able to do.

He also didn’t text his mom about it, wanting to wait until she got home from work so that he could talk to her in person. He’d made sure to sign slowly and clearly so he wouldn’t be misunderstood, and when his mom repeated back to him what he’d said, tears had spilled over her cheeks. She wrapped her arms around his son, telling him how proud of him she was. They spent the rest of the evening researching therapists in the area that spoke sign language, reading reviews and checking rates, until Will finally settled on the one he would meet with.

Once Will started seeing his therapist twice a week, he didn’t have as much time to spend with Nico, which was both good and bad. He missed seeing his best friend so often, but he didn’t want to spoil the surprise, either. (He’d told Nico that he’d started seeing a therapist, but hadn’t told him for what, and Nico never pried.) They made up for their lost time, though, by spending nearly every weekend together - cuddling on the couch during movie nights and sleeping in the same bed whenever Will spent the night (Nico had foregone the air mattress after the third weekend in a row that Will had decided to sleep in his bed with him).

It took months for Will to be able to manage to speak a single word. His therapist broke him down and helped him to build himself back up, allowing a voice to be a part of his new and improved self. His voice was shaky and lacked confidence, it cracked worse than thirteen-year-old’s, but it was _his voice._

He decided to cancel a single session with his therapist, knowing that it would be the best opportunity to surprise Nico, but also made sure that his therapist would still be expecting him for his next session - he could talk, sure, and that had been the goal, but he had a lot more to work through than just that.

Will hurried home after school, collecting some snacks and a DVD that he’d been saving for that weekend, and drove himself over to Nico’s house, trying to control his excitement as he knocked on the door.

Nico opened the door with a look of confusion on his face, one that switched to happiness at seeing Will, and then going back to confusion. Before he could ask what Will was doing there, Will said, “Hi, Nico.” It was shaky and rough and cracked on the first syllable, but the look on Nico’s face was definitely worth all the work.

“Did you--” Nico started, whispering as though speaking up would startle Will’s voice away. “You just--”

“Yeah,” Will said, holding back a bubble of laughter.

“But...how--”

“I wanted to ask you out,” Will said. His voice was starting to dry out already - he probably wouldn’t be able to talk much longer, but he just had to get this out. “Ask you with my voice. So, Nico--”

Nico surged up, hands framing Will’s face as he pressed their lips together. Will dropped the bag of snacks he had in his hands in favor of wrapping his arms around Nico’s waist.

“Yeah,” Nico breathed against Will’s lips. _“Yes,_ I wanna go out with you. I really, really do.”

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading!!!
> 
> the last line i wrote in the planning for this was "will says 'hi nico' and nico kisses him" so u tell me which is better i mean
> 
> also a couple of super short headcanons for after this goes down ((im writing them here bc as much as i would like to continue this ive got too much to do and will not be writing more of this au))
> 
> -so nicos under the impression that will was in like a car accident and his vocal chords were messed up so he's SUPER confused by this right but will doesn't explain everything to him for a little while after the end of this bc it takes a while to build up the stamina ((i guess??)) to be able to tell a long story  
> -will is valedictorian at his high school ((bc my boy didnt have any friends so all he did was study all the time so yeah hes pretty smart)) and in his speech he thanks nico bc he literally would not have been able to give the speech without him


End file.
